Send in the Clowns
by apinksunset
Summary: Right before a mission is about to begin, Felicity has a confession for Oliver and Diggle. A little one-shot Arrow humorous fluff piece.


Disclaimer: The characters do not belong to me. I just like to let them out to play every now and then.

A/N: Just a little humorous fluff. Hope you enjoy it.

~~ ARROW ~~

"Alright, this one is going to be easy in, easy out. Dig will go in through the north doors, while you and I will use the east entrance that's closest to the building offices. Then back to the lair. I'm in position. Felicity, we'll go in on my word. Be ready."

She heard the instructions, but felt the panic rise, constricting her chest and continuing to rise into her throat. She literally felt as if she were being choked by fear. She rubbed her palms down the front of her dress, lamenting the clammy sweat that had broken out.

"Felicity?" the voice in her ear asked again. "You there?"

Felicity sat up straighter where she was currently crouching behind the car. She nodded, and then realized he couldn't hear her nod.

"Felicity!" Oliver's voice carried a twinge of alarm to it. "Answer me," he directed. "What's wrong? Do you need help?"

She swallowed, and then spoke. "No," she said breathily. "No, I'm fine. I'm good." She sounded very unsure of herself. "Got m.. m.. my tablet. Ready to.. go." She looked upward, knowing she was really anything but ready.

"Felicity, you don't sound ready. We need you to slip into the office and copy Jansen's files as soon as we secure the hallway. We'll both be busy distracting Jansen and his cronies. If you don't feel like you can do this, we'll fall back and regroup with a new plan. It's ok." The new voice in her ear belonged to Diggle.

"No!" she whispered, clutching the tablet a little tighter. "I can do it. I just probably should have mentioned before we left…". Oliver and Dig heard an audible sigh come from their blonde partner over their comms.

"Mentioned what?" Oliver asked.

"… never mind. It's silly. It's ironic that it's silly, because being silly is generally the intent and purpose of these guys. That is, when they aren't really just lackeys who are working as a front for a Columbian arms dealer and his cartel. That really kind of puts a damper on the birthday parties. I mean, what mom is going to want to hire someone whose night job involves smuggling AK-47s to drug dealers?"

"Felicity, focus," Digg said. "Take a breath and tell us why you're spooked so we can deal with whatever the problem is and complete this mission smoothly. And safely," he added as an afterthought.

"It goes back to my childhood. It still gives me nightmares when I allow myself to think about it. I was eight and on a field trip with my school, and everyone had a partner. You know, a hold their hand so you don't get lost from the group kind of partner. Johnny Pendleton was my partner, but he was more into trying to scare all the girls as we went through the funhouse."

Inside the building, Oliver dropped his head. Whatever was bugging Felicity, he knew before they could even consider executing their plan, she needed to work through her anxiety. He wouldn't risk her safety, and didn't want to risk his or Diggle's either. He waved off Diggle to relax. They were very close to getting the intel they needed to bust these guys.

"What happened?" he asked softly.

Felicity continued, sitting down fully on the ground now, drawing up her knees and wrapping her arms around them. "Johnny locked me in the funhouse in the "scary" room. He thought he was so funny, but really he was just a booger-eating bully. I panicked, and banged and banged on the door but it was jammed, and finally I just broke down and started crying. It took them an hour to get me out of there.

"I didn't know you had a thing about small spaces, Felicity," Oliver spoke to her calmly. "I promise you, Jansen's office is bigger than a closet and you won't have to shut the door."

"No, you don't understand," she said, biting back unbidden tears that threatened the corners of her eyes. "I was trapped in a room full of clowns. These creepy, evil eyed dolls with freaky paint on their faces and horrifically large shoes, all just staring at me like they could jump out and attack me at any minute. It freaked me completely out. To this day it still freaks me out. I mean, it is simply not natural for a grown man to go around with a big red nose and face paint. Even though I know some do good things to entertain children, in my mind, I picture them all as psychopaths."

Both Diggle and Oliver went quiet at her revelation. It wasn't at all what they thought she was going to say. "Felicity, don't you think you should have mentioned this phobia before we all agreed to infiltrate the circus?" Dig finally asked.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "You're right. It's time to face down my fear of clowns. Just keep them out of my way. I don't want to have to have any unplanned conversations with anyone named Bozo, Flappy, or Bingo." She took a deep breath and steadied her nerves, rising to her feet. "I promise you, I will not let our team down. I will conquer my clown fear."

"We are going to be very close by if you need us" Oliver answered her. "No close encounters with anyone named Bozo tonight. The clowns will be on the north end of the building, getting ready for the show."

"Thanks for understanding guys," she said. "And I am sorry for the mini-spaz. I'd offer to buy you food on the way back to the lair, but I only saw a McDonald's. And well… "

She heard Dig's soft chuckle and knew from his silence that even Oliver had likely cracked a smile across his always stoic face.

"We know," said Oliver, hoping to lighten the mood for her so she would not feel bad for having to admit to her somewhat unique phobia. "There would be that damn Ronald McDonald to deal with."

"Yeah," she said, moving towards the position Oliver had pointed her to. "And don't even mention his large purple friend."

Fin.


End file.
